Keeping Focused

The strategy of “Mass Distraction” is beginning to show some cracks. Over the past few days we’ve seen some extraordinary examples of attempts to stifle the spread of fake, misleading, and potentially dangerous information. All of this as the US continues to battle the Coronavirus Pandemic.

The Free Press in the United States is under attack, and it’s coming from all sides. This is nothing new and frankly, a real change is not going to happen anytime soon, unless we all take a serious look at the problem, and the real ways to fix it. It’s not easy. Nothing worth saving it. At stake is nothing short of the ideals this country was founded on.  

First, we need to look at what exactly we are fighting for. 

What is journalism? This is a look at how Merriam Webster defines journalism:

1: a: the collection and editing of news for presentation through the media, b: the public press, c: an academic study concerned with the collection and editing of news or the management of a news medium

2: a: writing designed for publication in a newspaper or magazine. b: writing characterized by a direct presentation of facts or description of events without an attempt at interpretation, c: writing designed to appeal to current popular taste or public interest

All of this is protected by the First Amendment. But the final parts of the definition is where we end up getting into a major philosophical debate, reporting on current events without an attempt at interpretation, and writing designed to appeal to current popular taste or public interest. The job of a journalist is to present clearly what is happening, but the news needs to be presented in a way the audience can relate to and understand. It is vital to making sure people are truly informed. However, there is a big misconception about the last part of the definition that is inherently dangerous. I would say most of the “News’ out there today is nothing short of interpretation. If it wasn’t, the 24 hour news cycle could not exist. The divide between Journalism and Opinion has gotten blurry and people can no longer tell the difference. And there are very real consequences.   

Look no further than the White House briefing room for some of the most dramatic examples. On Friday, the President made the claim he could override any Governor who did not reopen churches, synagogues, and other houses of worship. Immediately after the statement, he left without taking questions. Then, the Press Secretary was asked what authority the President had to do this. After dancing around the question, Kayleigh McEnany then accused reporters of being more interested in keeping churches closed than protecting first amendment rights. But immediately she was challenged to answer the question, she moved on. Later in the briefing McEnaney then told reporters they should have asked her a question about the investigation into convicted former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and a deep state conspiracy theory that Joe Biden was implicated in his unmasking during the Russia investigation. She scolded the press from ignoring the story. We’ve all seen Press Secretaries push agendas and dance around questions, but this was a Spokesperson both asking and answering her own questions! Did the reporters even need to be there? Instead of focusing on the pandemic, the last thing we heard at the briefing was a partisan talking point.   

Fast forward to the weekend. The President tweeted several times slamming the idea of Mail-in voting falsely claiming massive voter fraud. He also tweeted implicating TV Host and Former Congressman Joe Scarborough in the death of one of his staffers back in Florida. There is no evidence that Scarborough had anything to do with the death. In fact, the woman’s widow sent a letter to Twitter to remove these tweets, saying the accusations were unfounded, baseless, and hurtful.  

At Tuesday’s briefing, the Press Secretary worked to deflect and change the story from the tweets to anything else. She accused Scarborough and his wife and cohost of spreading lies on their MSNBC morning show. As a result, the bulk of Tuesday’s briefing focused on a debunked conspiracy theory, and not the pandemic. Journalists are pushing back, more than ever before, but it seems the effort is taking away from what we really need to know these days. 

The issue of Mail-in voting took a dramatic turn last night, when Twitter posted a fact check on the tweets. It’s the first time the social media platform did this to a presidential tweet. In a knee-jerk reaction, President Trump vowed retaliation. This of course dominated the news cycle for several hours. And this, of course, is the point. It is yet another distraction, from the information we really need. I’m not saying this should not be covered. It does. But we need to recognize it’s an attempt to change the conversation. 

We’ve seen this strategy from President Trump before. It is nothing new. We saw it with the call for Hillary Clinton’s emails, we saw it with his accusation that Ted Cruz’s father has something to do with JFK’s Assasination, and we are seeing it now with what the President is calling Obamagate. The goal is to get people talking about anything other than what is really happening in this country. Millions of people believe what the President says, even if it is unproven or blatantly false.  

But now even the President recognizes he does not have free reign over the narrative. In the past few weeks, he has taken more shots at outlets such as the New York Times, MSNBC, and even Fox News. In fact he tweeted that Fox News no longer supports his agenda. No it’s not the job of any outlet to push an agenda on either side. But last night, the President’s disdain for the press took a new turn. He called a 20% layoff at The Atlantic, “great news”. More than 50 people lost their jobs, and he called that that good thing. As a journalist who is currently laid off, as an American watching the country go through this difficult time, and as a human being, I am offended. But we all need to keep focused.  

This all comes as the US reaches 100,000 deaths from the coronavirus. It comes as the 38 million people are unemployed. It comes as the racial divide in this country is at a boiling point. It also comes as the Presidential election approaches. I’m afraid the attempts at “Mass Distraction” will only get worse as we get close to November. We need, now more than ever, “a direct presentation of facts or description of events without an attempt at interpretation.” We also need to take responsibility to know what is news and what is not. We also must demand to get the real information need to work our way through this.